April 24: The residents of Kathmandu Valley finally have access to drinking water from Melamchi almost a year after the supply has halted due to natural disasters as well as other technical reasons.

The distribution of drinking water started today (April 24) after the structures damaged by flood last year’s floods were repaired. The supply of water resumed after Minister for Drinking Water Umakanta Chaudhary inaugurated the water tank at Min Bhawan in Kathmandu on Sunday morning.

Water supply from Melamchi was halted last May. After the repairs and reconstruction of the damaged structure, Kathmandu Upatyaka Khanepani Limited (KUKL) started distributing the drinking water to the taps from Sunday.

The Ministry of Water Supply initiated the repair of the diversion of the pathway for water supply to Kathmandu from April after completing the maintenance and cleaning work of the project. Water from Melamchi is distributed in the Kathmandu valley via new as well as old taps as well.

Water will soon be distributed in areas including Min Bhawan, Baneshwor, Thapathali, Mahankal (Chabahil), Anamnagar and other places. Meanwhile, water distribution has already started in Kirtipur, Khumaltar, Bode of Bhaktapur, Swayambhu, Balaju, Naya Bazaar, Kalimati, Maharajgunj and other areas starting today.

The government had announced to distribute drinking water from Melamchi to the people of the valley by mid-April. KUKL is distributing water after 10 days of announcement. After decades of construction, KUKL had started distributing water from Melamchi in the Kathmandu Valley on March 28, 2021. But at that time, distribution of drinking water had started as a test.  

Spokesperson of the Melamchi Water Supply Development Committee Rajendra Prasad Pant informed that water was already been brought to Sundarijal of Kathmandu from the temporary structure and water distribution was possible since Sunday as the 27 km long tunnel was filled on Friday itself.

Altogether 170 million liters of water will be distributed daily in Kathmandu Valley. The project has been built with an investment of Rs 30 billion. In addition, floods and landslides from mid-June to mid-August caused a loss of Rs. 360 million.